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First US-ASEAN joint maritime drills are a signal to Beijing

Jim Fanell’s Note: Just a word about this first ever ASEAN-U.S. Maritime Exercise (AUMX). We’ve heard/read many screeds about how this administration is not developing allies and partners. While I understand the concerns, let’s not forget what is happening on the waters of the South China Sea. This is a significant event and demonstrates the level of effort the administration is making towards reinforcing our existing alliance structure. Some will try and discount this, but the fact remains that this kind of maritime exercise with ASEAN has not happened before and we should acknowledge it for what it is: another signal to Beijing that their desire to run roughshod over the region will not be easy.

The United States and 10 Southeast Asian nations were set to kick off joint maritime naval exercises Monday, including drills in the disputed South China Sea, as Washington ramped up its moves against alleged “bullying” in the disputed waterway by Beijing.

Eight warships, four aircraft and more than a thousand personnel from the U.S. and all 10 countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were taking part in the first ASEAN-U.S. Maritime Exercise (AUMX). Lasting five days and starting at the Sattahip Naval Base in Thailand and ending in Singapore, the drills come amid soaring tensions between Washington and Beijing, especially over the South China Sea.

But those tensions were likely to be balanced out by the ASEAN nations, some of which have taken a softer approach in their dealings with Beijing. China and ASEAN held similar joint maritime exercises — the first of their kind — last October.

Co-led by the navies of the United States and Thailand, the exercises will stretch into “international waters in Southeast Asia, including the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea” before concluding in Singapore, the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet said in a statement.